This invention relates to slidable and tiltable platform vehicle carriers of the type wherein the platform slides and tilts to provide a ramp for loading a vehicle thereon for transporting over the road, and more particularly to the construction of the platform to provide a light weight yet strong and durable structure.
In the art of recovering disabled vehicles, when more than one vehicle must be recovered, use may be made of a truck or carrier vehicle having a slidable and tiltable deck or platform on which at least one vehicle may be loaded and carried. In order to provide a strong yet light weight deck, it is customary to construct such decks from aluminum. Because the deck has a substantial size it is conventional to form the deck from a number of interconnected sections or panels, which may be extruded units. In the known prior art the interconnection between panels is by a tongue in groove arrangement permitting relative vertical movement therebetween. The panels are supported on and welded to the bed rails which are slidably and tiltably attached to the frame of the carrier vehicle. Since the strength of aluminum welds is weaker than that of the base material the welds are first to fail when overloaded. The vertical load on the deck and thus the welds can be substantial, especially when the carrier vehicle is driven over rough roads. Once the welds fail the structural integrity, the load carrying ability and the longevity of the deck may greatly be impaired. To protect against such weld failures it is customary to provide a significant safety factor and overdesign the number of welds. This obviously increases the manufacturing costs for producing such vehicle carriers.